Went ahead and picked up a simple amplified room "rabbit ears" type antenna to sample the OTA DVT offerings.

KGW has a nice NFL feed. Looks great. KATU looks like they have an HD feed up, but are running standard definition NTSC, framed in the center. Nice move on that.

What OTA have you watched and what do you think of quality overall?

(Thinking I might actually build an HD DVR this coming year)

Build or buy?


Oh, my converter is still in the box!

Build.

Going to build a Linux MYTH TV setup. I've got an HD ready OTA card. Probably can set the rest of it up with S-video and get recordings done.

The nice thing about MYTH is the plug-in design. There are lots of plug-ins to do interesting things. Since the TV is capable of monitor+ resolution, why not incorporate some other functions besides watching TV?

Got my coupons back in the spring, then started the crazy kitchen remodel and misplaced them, never to be found again. I'm sure they expired. Any way to get replacement coupons? I heard they have some left.

There are 2 other options: Buy a standard definition digital TV. They're about the same price as analog. Buy a small HDTV. Believe it or not, so are they!

I have a 20" flat screen Sdtv.
With indoor antenna, i get Katu, Koin, Kopb, Kptv, Krcw, and Kpdx.
Amplified Philips indoor antenna for $30 works pretty good. But i don't get Kgw or Kpxg.
Sometimes Koin runs a movie latenight or CSI on 6.2, while 6.1 is running paid programing!

I think KOIN shut 6.2 down a few weeks ago.

Lately I haven't gotten anything on 6.2. Naturally, 6.1 seems to be there 100% of the time for me........

I think it's amazing to look at the prices for these TV's. Then I think about just how far behind we are in manufacturing technology...

Anyway, the smaller HD-TV's are a good deal. Not sure I would bother with a full resolution one though. Dot pitch is too small for the average persons ability to resolve it.

So far, I've not watched any more TV, but I have enjoyed what I did watch. Also, the signal degrades a bit more gracefully than I thought it would. Compared to analog, this is a home run!

I can see all sorts of choices being made about what video elements to suppress, compress and when. Strange that I don't mind that as much as I do the same for audio. Visual artifacts are just not as distracting as audio ones are.

Also, the signal degrades a bit more gracefully than I thought it would.

I was wondering about that. I live out in the fringe area for some stations (KGW) and I wondered if reception would go directly to blue screen if reception got spotty or sort of fade out like analog.

My experience has been

1. Good picture

2. Some fleeting artifacts

3. Distinct squares and sometimes lines of them that endure for a while then fill in as the signal recovers. They might also move around a bit, if the signal remains iffy.

3.5 Audio will suffer or blank at this stage.

4. Motion stops, audio spotty.

5. Blue screen, or static image, depending on where in the stream it drops below viable level.

It's not really a fade. There are warnings enough to tune an antenna. However, there isn't enough to guide an antenna in from a near no-signal condition, like what is possible with analog.

This particular TV has a signal strength meter. It helps some, but not all that much.

Frankly, it's easier to tune the analog, home in, then fine tune from there. Without that reference, people will have more trouble, IMHO.

TV has had artifacts since its inception! We've just learned to tolerate them.